My one year anniversary is approaching and I am looking back at my experience of living in Tokyo. What do I think?
Many people ask me, “How do you like Japan?” My answer is typically, “I love Japan!” but then I realize that I don’t love Japan. For anyone considering moving to Japan, I would like to share my honest, no holds barred, opinion about Japan. Sorry in advanced for anyone I offend.
Japanese people hold many stereotypes about foreigners who live in Japan and people from other countries in general. Here are some statements I have heard:
“Foreigners like air conditioning.”
“Cicadas are just noise to foreigners.”
“I didn’t know Americans eat watermelon.”
“You eat tofu?”
「日本語しゃべった！」
“American food is big size.”
Many of these stereotypes stem from ignorance while others come from nationalistic pride. I clearly remember a time when I was asked, “Are there Japanese restaurants in America?” First of all, the American population is twice as big as Japan’s and the land size of Japan is comparable to California. With that basic information alone, I would think an average person would know at least one Japanese restaurant exists in all of America. But not in Japan! This kind of question comes up all the time– by the way, I also lived in Kagawa prefecture for 2 years, so I’m not just talking about a 10 month experience. It is a 2 year 10 month experience in rural Japan and urban Japan.
One question I hate hearing and detest answering is “Do you know how to use chopsticks?” There are the other, “Do you know …..?” questions, like “Do you know where Hokkaido is?” “Do you know sushi?” “Do you know ‘something most people know, but because you are a “foreigner” you probably don’t know’”? Many Japanese people seem to be oblivious to the customs, practices and ways of other nations, and many Japanese people have poor knowledge of geography even within Japan. It almost feels like if something is not inherently Japanese it is not important and not worth knowing about.
Similarly, many Japanese people are AMAZED that a “foreigner” can speak Japanese. The faintest utterance of Japanese typically renders the response, 「日本語が上手ですね」 and this is literally after saying something like, 「今日は暑い」。 There seems to be a myth that “foreigners” cannot learn Japanese, or that Japanese is the hardest language in the world. I do not know, but it is condescending to hear that statement when I have simply said two words. It makes me question whether or not the person actually thinks my Japanese is good or they are saying it just because. A big part of Japanese culture is that people will put on a show instead of acting according to their true feelings. If it were me and someone spoke English that I thought was not good, I would not say anything, but if I thought their English was good, then I would make a genuine comment.
This leads me to Japanese people speaking English to any “foreigner” and feeling the need to speak English despite a “foreigner” speaking Japanese. If I approach someone who I think speaks English, I will say, “Do you speak English?” But it seems like many Japanese people assume that a “foreigner” speaks English. Two weeks ago, I went to make an appointment at a new clinic. I was speaking Japanese. The nurse was speaking Japanese. Actually, I asked if there was an English speaking person available and after the nurse consulted with two other nurses who then peeked their heads out of the office to see me, said no. So I spoke in Japanese. Out of nowhere, another nurse hovered over the other nurse who was scheduling my appointment. I could tell she wanted to speak in English, but I was not having any problems communicating. Then the nurse who wanted to speak English, said, “Do you understand?” Yes, I understand! Basically, she wanted to see if I could read days of the week, which I learned in my first year Japanese class at the age of 13. I know 月 = Monday and so on. Situations like these really take away my desire to communicate freely because I feel like I am being treated like a child or I am being rescued. If I wanted to speak English, I would just speak English. Period.
Another thing, when someone who is not fluent in English tries to speak English to “help” me”, their English is too watered down. For example at my cooking class, one of the instructors spoke very little English. Even though I told her, in Japanese, that I spoke Japanese, she would give me instructions like, “Cut, cut!” or “Mix, mix!” while the other people in my class were getting these full on, clear instructions. She should have spoken Japanese. There is a really good scene in Lost in Translation when Bill Murray is filming a commercial and the director is giving him a long, lengthy explanation of what he wants, but then the translator says, “Look in the camera!” You have to see it!
One of my biggest pet peeves in Japan is the existence of rules that make no sense and workers who have no individual brain. I have almost given up on asking any kind of service worker a question, because they never know the answer. Never. My experiences at Softbank, convenience stores, health care clinics, wherever have proven that if I ask a question, the chance of me getting a clear answer is very slim. I have come to think that Japanese people do not know anything. If you ask a question, like I did at the gym the other day, you will wait because the person you ask will ask someone else and then they have to ask another person and then finally after waiting the answer you get is…vague, unclear and basically not an answer at all.
I will end with a story.
I was at the gym the other day. After my workout, I decided to play a game on my iPhone, which has no service because it was purchased in the US, not from Softbank. While I was in the locker room, one of the gym attendants came in and quickly said I could not use my phone. I showed her the game I was playing and she said I could not use my phone. She then brought a sign that said no phone calls and pictures were allowed by cell phones. I then explained and showed her that my phone had no service so I could not make a call and clearly I was playing a game, not taking a picture. She said I had to turn off my phone. So I did. A few days later, I spoke to another gym attendant about what happened. After consulting with someone else she said that it was best to play a game in the lounge area, but I did not have to turn off my phone. I went on to make a point that the information she was telling me was different than what the first gym attendant told me and I wanted to know why I was told to turn off my phone even though I was not talking on the phone or taking a picture on a cell phone that is inoperable in Japan! Finally she said she would check with another person.
This is the kind of treatment to expect in Japan. I won’t throw the foreigner card, but it makes me wonder if a Japanese person would have been asked to turn off their cell phone even though it had no service whatsoever in Japan?!? It is the mindless, robotic people that enforce rules that make no sense. If I was taking a picture, then I would have been in the wrong. If I was talking on my Softbank phone, I would have been in the wrong. But I was playing a game on a phone that has no service in Japan, am I still in the wrong? No. That’s Japan.
